Only 200 miles due east of Portland, Pendleton is a Western town with a mystique all its own.
Text by Martin Cizmar
Images by Sera Lindsey
When most people think of Oregon, they picture the western third of the state—Portland food carts and bungalows, wild rivers pounding through Douglas-fir forests down to the Pacific Ocean, waves crashing into a cold and craggy shoreline. But two-thirds of Oregon’s landmass is entirely different. Just east of the spine of the Cascade Mountains, about 70 miles from Portland, is a vast high desert with expansive skies and windswept ridges dotted with sagebrush. Eastern Oregon is a lightly populated region of stark beauty and rugged cowboy values. The best place to get a taste of this territory is Pendleton, one of the most unique cities in the state.
HAMLEY & CO.
30 SE Court Ave.
hamleyco.com
One of the lesser-known stories from the white settlement of the West is the bloody conflict between ranchers—cattlemen and sheepmen fought and died over grazing lands. Eastern Oregon was sheep country, and the name Pendleton is synonymous with wool blankets because of Pendleton Woolen Mills, which was founded in the middle of the Civil War. The same family has owned this operation for the last century, and still makes wool blankets featuring bright stripes and richly colored patterns to the taste of indigenous peoples of the area. The company’s mill in Pendleton, which is where its blankets are made, offers free tours to see the looms in action, hosts a miniature museum of the city’s history, and gives discounts at its factory store.
THE PENDLETON WOOLEN MILL & RETAIL STORE
1307 SE Court Pl.
pendleton-usa.com
Before there was Nike in Beaverton, there was Hamley in Pendleton. For more than a century, Hamley’s handmade rodeo saddles, which today cost about $5,000, have been the gold standard of the sport. This company is famous for its innovations, many of which have become standard features, such as the “form-fitter” shape of the swells you’ll see on the front and back of a Western saddle today. Today, Hamley is housed in the BF Renn Building in the heart of downtown Pendleton, the very same building where J.J. Hamley set up shop in 1905 along the Oregon Trail. Over the years, the company has changed ownership and diversified its production, and it now also runs a Western goods store next to a dimly lit and decadent steakhouse.
STAPLEMANS BOOTS
7 SE Court Ave.
staplemans.com
Pendleton has a maker culture that is every bit as vibrant as the one in Portland. Thanks to the annual rodeo, the town gets a massive influx of visitors eager to bring home suitable souvenirs. Along downtown streets you’ll find boutique hat and leather-goods shops. Among the best-loved is Staplemans Boots, where proprietor Richard Stapleman stitches together custom-fit cowboy boots that will last a lifetime.
THE PENDLETON ROUND-UP STADIUM AND MUSEUM
1114 SW Court Ave.
pendletonhalloffame.com
Pendleton is home to one of the world’s largest and most famous rodeos, the Pendleton Round-Up. The event takes place one week each September, but the grounds and neighboring museum are draws for visitors year-round. The grounds are known as the Fenway Stadium of rodeo; it has an infield of slick grass, rather than the customary dirt, which makes for unpredictable and dangerous rides. Across the street stands the Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon Hall of Fame, a two-story museum that features a massive trove of old photographs, fliers, informational kiosks, and the most feared saddle bronc horse in the history of rodeo, War Paint (in taxidermy form).
Pendleton is about 200 miles east of Portland. Getting there makes for a scenic drive, but you can also hop a quick commuter flight from Portland International Airport at a bargain rate thanks to federally subsidized essential air service.
THE TAMÁSTSLIKT CULTURAL INSTITUTE
47106 Wildhorse Blvd.
tamastslikt.org
To the east, Pendleton is bordered by the 271-square-mile Umatilla Indian Reservation. A jewel of this land is the 45,000-square-foot Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, which covers 10,000 years of history from the perspective of the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla peoples. Among the attractions are a short play in which Spilyáy, a magical coyote, tells the history of mankind, and an exhibit that documents how native peoples thrived in the area prior to European contact.
THE UNDERGROUND & BROTHELS
30 SE Court Ave.
pendletonundergroundtours.org
Pendleton’s identity and history are tied to ranching. And like most ranch towns where cowboys came off the trail looking to spend their money, it was home to plenty of debauchery. However, unlike in most of these places, that era lasted into living memory here—the last downtown brothels were closed during a moral panic in the ’60s. Downtown was dead at the time, so the spaces remained remarkably well-preserved for the city’s recent revitalization.
The former Cozy Rooms, once managed by Stella Darby, is on the Pendleton Underground Tour. Darby was known as a generous and motherly madam, and she is memorialized with a statue on Main Street. The Underground Tour, which brings you into her domain, is a 90-minute journey through the maze of tunnels under the city. It is justifiably the most popular tourist attraction in Eastern Oregon. The tunnels were built by Chinese laborers who weren’t allowed to be on city streets at night, so the passageways became a bustling city of their own, with a laundry, naturally chilled butcher shop, and several rowdy saloons.